What We Are Thankful For

This year we were able to host the 2nd Annual Minnesota Gray Family Thanksgiving. It was such a great holiday/weekend. Our house was full of people and noises, our stomachs were always full of good food, and Karter loved having every ones attention!

Thanksgiving is such a great time to reflect on what we are thankful for, but I thank God daily for the many blessings he has brought into my life. Our little family of 3 (soon to be 4!) is blessed with an amazing, supportive and loving extended family. We are truly thankful for all of our family!

Last weekend, Karter was especially thankful to have a house full of aunts and uncles to play with all the time...he is definitely missing that attention this week.

He was also thankful that Grandma Terry would read him every book in his cabinet...

...and that Papaw Kim was here to smooch on!

I have a lot to be thankful for in my life, but most of all I am thankful for these two cuties!

Sesame Street

Karter and I have a pretty good routine that we follow everyday. Our mornings usually go like this, Karterman will wake up around 7-7:30am and we play for awhile and then have breakfast. After breakfast he plays by himself while I clean up the kitchen. After that, we play some more and do any other household chores that need to be done (Karter LOVES to help get the chores done...no joke!). Around 10am he starts cranky, but it isn't quite lunch or nap time yet, so a few weeks ago we started adding Sesame Street to our normal routine. I have to make sure that I set the DVR to record it, because lets face it, if Elmo isn't on what is the point of watching it and I have to fast forward through the "boring" parts! He really doesn't like Abbey's flying fairy school.

I bet you can't guess what made him so excited....

...well of course that was because it was time for Elmo's World!

I try not to let Karter watch too much TV during the day, but this is the perfect solution to our mid-morning slump! He climbs up on the couch and we snuggle for the entire episode. He knows when it is over it is time to go upstairs, have lunch and then take a nap. Of course, I have the songs stuck in my head all day and when I sing "Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street", Karter points downstairs and says TV!! It cracks me up every time!

No Fear

Last week we had a very unfortunate event happen and it resulted in us needing a new computer. Now that we have the new computer we are being very careful with it and it has found a semi-permanent home on our kitchen table. Karter thinks that anytime we are on the computer it means we are watching Elmo. To make sure he doesn't miss out on any opportunity to see his furry red friend he has taught himself a new trick this week!

He seriously has no fear and is 100% boy. On Monday he started getting on and off the dinning room chair all by himself!

He is really good and doesn't try to stand up, but of course he tries to reach for everything in sight!

I asked him to smile for mommy and this is the face I got!

That's better! What a proud little monkey!

When it's time to get down, he just scoots his little bottom to the edge...

...and jumps down! And luckily, he always lands on his feet!

The Many Faces of Karter

Our little man is the most happy, easy-going person I have ever met. He is almost always smiling and loves to make others smile too. And who would be able to resist a smile like this?!

In his effort to make people smile, Karter has started making his "scrunchy face". It looks mean and serious, but give him a few seconds and his tough exterior melts back into his lovable smile!

Occasionally, he gives the face when he doesn't like what you are saying to him.

"You talking to me daddy?"

Yep, this little cutie will do just about anything for a good laugh!

Check out Grandma Terry's blog, this past weekend Karterman was able to get a few people to do the face with him too!

Black Friday Shopping

We had an amazing Thanksgiving with all of the Gray's at our house again this year (more on that later this week). While there was always some excitement going on at our house, some of the big excitement happened when some of us decided to brave the crowds and head to Target for their 5am opening on Friday. With Karterman was still asleep, Grandma and Papaw woke up early to stay with him while Emily, Zach, Kamaron, Anique, Kristoffer and I headed to Target. We weren't expecting what we saw when we got there. "Our" Target isn't really close to any other stores, so we weren't expecting big crowds, but boy were we wrong! When we got in line a little before 5, the line was wrapped around to the back of the building and circling back up to the front of the store.

Once the doors were opened, we didn't make it into the store until 5:07. Inside it was crazy! By the time we were in they had already ran out of carts and people had already purchased their big ticket items (TVs) and were already taking them out to their cars.

We weren't shopping for much, we all just mainly wanted to see what the crowds were like. We all got such a rush from watching all the people around us acting so crazy.

We were all out of the store and back home by 6:10. It was a great outing to people watch, but was just the beginning for the girls! After breakfast, Karter stayed home with all the guys while the girls went back out for round 2!

The Pioneer Woman in MN

We had quite the day this past Saturday! I have been a huge fan of The Pioneer Woman for the past two years and was super excited when she came out with a cookbook a few months ago. We have made MANY of PW's recipes and have loved them all, so I couldn't wait to get my cookbook. When she announced that she would be doing a book signing and would stop in MN at the Mall of America, I told Kristoffer we had to go! Neither of us knew what to expect, but we made our plans for the day.

We rarely go to the MOA, especially during the holiday season, so we thought we would make a day of it and try to get some Christmas shopping done. We stopped at IKEA to check out big boy beds for Karterman and then got to the mall around 11. The book signing was suppose to start at 1, so we got lunch as soon as we arrived and then went to one store. Around noon we decided to walk by where PW would be to check out the situation. When we arrived we saw the scene above and knew we had to get in line before it got even longer.

I was in line by 12:15 (along with many other eager fans) and watched the line behind me continue to grow. Kristoffer came back to check on me at 1 and took the camera to snap a few pictures of PW making her first appearance. She stood on stage and answered questions for about 15 minutes before she started signing. We tried to figure out how long I would be in line so Kristoffer and Karter could come back to meet me. We guessed I would be done around 3 and then we could finish shopping.

About 30 minutes into the signing I turned around and Marlboro Man (aka PW's husband, Ladd) and her two small boys, Bryce and Todd were standing there. Once everyone realized they were there too, everyone started cheering.

The two boys were super cute and kept picking on each other the whole time. PW's two boys are about as far apart as my two boys will be, and I definitely got a glimpse of what our life is going to be like!
Marlboro Man caused as much of a scene as PW did (this is him signing my cookbooks!). And check out their youngest son rubbing his ears, the oldest had just pulled his ears out and held them there for a couple minutes.

While we were all waiting in line we got to watch the filming of a new TLC show, "Mall Cops: Mall of America." It should be on TV this spring, we are definitely going to watch the first episode to see if we are in it!
Back to our plan...yeah, 3 came and went and I was no where near the front of the line, in fact I hadn't even reached the roped off area yet. This is my FANTASTIC husband around 5 when I was finally to the front of the line. We were both really tired and (past) ready to go home by this point. He was tired of walking the mall and trying to entertain Karter, I was tired of standing on my feet for 5 hours, and...

...poor little Karter was tired of being in his stroller all day and not napping.

At 5:15 I was finally sitting in the chair next to PW, and no wonder it took so long to get through the line. She was SO nice and personable and chatted with me for a couple of minutes. In our short time together we talked about babies, how crazy the line was, recipes, husbands and mother in-laws. She even waved at Kristoffer and Karter, who were standing off to the side of the stage.

The day didn't end up anything like we had planned, but I am glad I was able to get my books signed. Most of all I was glad that I have such an amazing husband who would wait with me all day. We both agreed if we had known I would have stood in line for 5 hours, he and Karter would have stayed at home. The day didn't end up anything like PW and her handlers expected either. The signing was suppose to be 1-3 and they were expecting around 600 people. Over 2,000 people showed up and she wasn't done until around 7:30.

Thanks for coming to MN, Pioneer Woman!

Bed Bug

Karter LOVES getting up on our bed. I'm not sure what it is, but probably because it is up so high. His newest trick is to try and climb up himself. Yesterday he thought it was hilarious to climb up on the bed while I was trying to put the clean sheets back on. (See the blue toy under him, that is a toy he hasn't played with for MONTHS, but of course wanted to play with it when I was going to pack it away. I guess it stays out a little longer.)

Check out those two new molars on the bottom!

Where ever he is playing, he likes to lay down and pretend to sleep and then pop up and laugh. He thinks it's extra funny if you do it too!

I tried to finish making the bed, but Karter wasn't done playing yet. He still wanted to play peek-a-boo and flash a few mischievous grins!

He is the cutest bed bug!

Our Little Architect

Every night after dinner it is Karter and Daddy time. It is fun to watch my two guys play and act silly together. One of their all time favorite activities to do together is build towers. Kristoffer and Karter have completely different styles for building, but they always work together! I think Karter actually enjoys knocking the towers over more than the building, but he wants you to rebuild pretty quickly so he can do it again!

Just Like Daddy

Kristoffer has been getting Sports Illustrated for as long as we've been together (and probably before then) and he is meticulous about reading every word. Between SI and Newsweek, passing the time on his commute to work is pretty easy. However, before Kristoffer can ever see a word on the page, Karterman has to look at every page first!

Karter is pretty meticulous when he reads through it too, although he is mostly just pointing out all of the balls!

Looks like we will be getting SI at our house for many more years!

Monday Morning Video

Before I was a mama, I never fully understood how much parents love their children. I loved Karter before I knew him, but I fall in love with him all over on a daily basis. I love being able to spend all day with him, although somedays I am more ready for nap time than others, and miss him even if I'm only gone an hour. He is changing so quickly and I don't want to ever forget how cute/silly he is when he is playing or doing everyday things, so I have been taking A LOT more videos of Karter. Maybe it is my pregnancy hormones, but whenever I look back at old videos or pictures of him I get all weepy. It is amazing how quickly he has changed before our eyes, but it really isn't until I look back that I realize how far he has come.

This video started out with him just building me a tower, but then he started to ham it up for the camera so I kept rolling. The video is pretty long (10 min), but make sure you see how cute the ending is!